Another Red Sox title seems inevitable as September finally arrives

By Paul Sullivan / Chicago Tribune

Saturday

Sep 1, 2018 at 8:15 AM

September finally is here, and despite some tight races and several contenders for the major awards, the only meaningful question remaining in the 2018 season is whether anyone can stop the Red Sox from winning their fourth World Series of the 21st century.

At this point, the answer seems obvious.

Barring a playoff collapse, another Red Sox title looks like a slam dunk.

With 93 wins heading into Friday's game against the White Sox, the Red Sox were 8-1/2 games ahead of the Yankees, the team with the next-best record. That's a Secretariat-like lead, giving the Red Sox a chance to post one of the greatest seasons ever. They had 14 more wins than the Cubs, who have the best record in the National League and could meet them in a Theopalooza World Series.

Of course, Secretariat didn't have to start over after finishing 31 lengths ahead of the pack in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Once the postseason begins, everyone is back to zero, so theoretically nine other teams will have just as good a shot.

But if the Red Sox play up to their capabilities, no one should touch them. They lead the majors in runs scored, hitting, slugging and on-base percentage and rank fourth in pitching and sixth in fielding.

A recent slump, in which the Red Sox lost six of eight and allowed the Yankees to creep within six games Monday, momentarily panicked the small subset of fans still programmed to brace for collapse. No matter how good it gets, and despite titles in 2004, '07 and '13, some in Red Sox Nation can't wake up from their cursed past.

In truth, the eight-game stretch was a meaningless blip in a long season in which the Red Sox haven't been challenged since sweeping the Yankees in a four-game series after the All-Star break. They've yet to lose more than three consecutive games, and Wednesday they knocked out 12 straight hits in an inning against the Marlins. That doesn't even happen in Little League, and only occasionally in backyard Wiffle ball games.

There are no holes in the lineup. J.D. Martinez is vying for the Triple Crown and Most Valuable Player honors. Mookie Betts is their best all-around player and also in the MVP discussion. Chris Sale could win the Cy Young Award if he comes back strong from the disabled list, and recent pickup Ian Kinsler has ably replaced the void left by team leader Dustin Pedroia, on the DL with a knee injury.

With such a comfortable lead in the American League East, manager Alex Cora has been able to let Sale recover from left shoulder inflammation instead of rushing him back for the stretch run. Sale told the Boston Globe his shoulder feels "like Paul Bunyan's ox," which presumably is good news. David Price was hit in the left wrist by a 106-mph liner in Wednesday's start, but Cora doesn't believe it's a major concern, and Price might miss one only start.

The Red Sox entered the four-game series against the White Sox as one of five teams since 1955 to win 93 of their first 134 games. The 1995 Indians lost to the Braves in the World Series, the 2001 Mariners lost to the Yankees in the AL Championship Series and the 2017 Dodgers lost to the Astros in the World Series. Only one of the other four -- the 1998 Yankees -- wound up winning it all.

The all-time record of 116 wins, set by the 1906 Cubs and tied by those 2001 Mariners, isn't in the cards, so the Red Sox will have to find other ways to motivate themselves in September.

The '01 Mariners expended energy in winning 10 of their last 12 to tie the record but then lost the ALCS in five games, having finally run out of gas.

A Yankees-Red Sox October matchup seems inevitable, so get ready for the umpteenth replay of Pedro Martinez throwing down Don Zimmer, and Bucky Dent's homer, and blah, blah, blah. Much howling will ensue about how the two best teams in baseball can meet in the first round, and some will call for a new playoff format to prevent it from happening again.

And if the Red Sox prevail and get past the Astros or Indians and into the World Series, MLB would like nothing more than the Cubs-Red Sox free-for-all.

Iconic franchises. Stars galore. Beloved ballparks.

What more could you ask for?

The NL is too gridlocked to make anyone a solid favorite, but the Red Sox figure to be there to finish off an epic season.